The Absolute Cutest Summer Cookies

This month, my sister, Claire, turned 24 years old (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CLAIRE!).. For Claire's birthday celebrations when she was younger, my mom would make batches of these adorable watermelon sugar cookies. Not only are the sugar cookies themselves delicious, but there's something about the little bit of chocolate and the confectioners sugar frosting on the edges that makes them addicting and its impossible to stop after just one (seriously, impossible).

Pizza on the GRILL!

Anthony and I just bought a new grill for our porch and... well... it's amazing. Like, the greatest thing since sliced bread, basically.

In addition to making burgers, steaks and eggplant sandwiches, we tried something new and grilled pizza this week.

New favorite thing.

You get the char on the bottom of the crust from the grill which just adds a wonderfully burnt flavor to the toasted dough and melted cheese.

Here's an iPhone picture of the finished products:

The awkwardly long pizza to the left is three cheese and olive oil. Super easy. Basically, I drizzled a small amount of olive oil on the raw dough, then sprinkled it with some Mozzarella, Gorgonzola and Fontina cheeses. The pizza to the right is pesto, Mozzarella and artichoke (pretty self-explanatory!).

If you're a first-time pizza griller, here are some good instructions on Food Network's website:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/george-duran/pizza-on-the-grill-recipe/index.html

Now get grilling... summer is almost over!

Buffalo Chicken Ranch Dip

Partially thanks to my husband, I've come to absolutely love football season. While we can't manage to agree on what teams we're rooting for - he's a huge Dallas Cowboys fan (I know, seriously?) and I'm a New York Jets fan (J-E-T-S, JETS JETS JETS) - the one thing we always manage to agree on is the fact that food is a huge player on Sundays. Whether you're sitting on the couch watching the game with some brews, or tailgating in a rowdy parking lot, good grub is always important.

I know it's a weeeeeeee bit premature (I'm just REALLY excited!), but I've already started compiling some awesome gameday recipes that will satisfy every football fan no matter who you're rooting for.

The first of many recipes is posted below... Super easy buffalo chicken dip. Chicken, cheese, some ranch and buffalo sauce all mixed up and baked. Plus you can totally make it up to a day ahead of time and refrigerate.

My Faves: Nutella Banana Cookies

Photo Courtesy of Chef in Training

Last year, during Hurricane Sandy, I was stuck inside my Hoboken apartment for quite some time. Lucky to have the company of Anthony and a couple of friends, we spent a lot of that time cooking any and all the items in our fridge and freezer before they went bad. This led to some pretty weird meals - like leftover chili with a side of pork dumplings - but we did bake a few delicious treats along the way.

Our favorite were these Nutella Banana Cookies off a wonderful blog called Chef in Training. We happened to have two bananas and some eggs that needed to go ASAP so it was PERFECT.

A Little Weekend Roundup

This was the first time in a long time that my husband and I had nothing on the schedule for the weekend and it was glorious! To the hubby's dismay, my productivity level was through the roof and we ran around doing errands most of the time. Oh well...

While running around, we made a spur-of-the-moment stop at one of our favorite restaurants in neighboring Jersey City - The Taqueria. They don't have a website, but you can click here to see the menu. The restaurant was damaged pretty severely during Hurricane Sandy and we had no idea that it re-opened until we drove by Sunday... it was practically like Christmas!

Anthony got tacos and I ordered Juevos Rancheros off of their brunch menu (even though their cactus tacos are my absolute FAVORITE):

A Couple of This Week's Creations

I did have some time to try a couple new (and delicious) recipes this week which I thought might be fun to share.

First off, a delicious veggie burger from one of my favorite guys on the Food Network, The Sandwich King. If you haven't checked out his recipes you should... Since they're mostly sandwiches (obviously), the recipes are pretty quick and painless. Plus, anything between two slices of bread is bound to be delicious! I'm also always impressed when someone comes up with a good veggie burger recipe that not only tastes good, but also stays together while being cooked.

I do not (I repeat, do not) like cucumber at all, so I didn't bother making the yogurt sauce. Instead, we just had the burger between two slices of potato roll with a little fontina cheese on top.

The Sandwich King's Veggie Burger with a little side o' asparagus

Next are some yummy yummy enchiladas. The recipe is from a restaurant called Casa Vega in Sherman Oaks, California which I stumbled upon on another blog called Kasey's Kitchen. Never been to the place, but I sure as hell want to go now after tasting these enchiladas. They're amazing and surprisingly quick. The best part was my hubby decided he wanted in on the cooking action that night so we made them together... a.k.a. he made the rice since he's not allowed near our new knives after a little incident he had cutting a bagel last week ;)

Casa Vega Enchiladas

Sorry for the sub-par photos. Everything would've been long gone by the time I got out my big camera!